Pseudo-Live Blog: Sao Paulo Indy 300

The fans are in place, the Sambadrome has been ground down for grip, and...nothing's happening. The sprinkles have started falling in central Sao Paulo which, this being a road course race, it's not really a problem. The league officials need to figure out how wet the track is and whether or not they need to mandate use of rain tires, then we'll light up the Honda's and get rolling. At least the Brazilian fans are having fun...

12:02, pre-race
Pace car has done its rounds, some Brazilian fellow gave a very dull engine start command, and we're ready to roll!

12:05, pre-race
The grinding and the quick shower seem to have made a bit of a dusty situation on the Sambadrome section...we'll see how that affects things.

Lap 1
Pace car off, we are...GREEN! Tons of dust on the concrete....and...we are YELLOW! Lots of cars falling apart and running into each other. Mario Moraes parked on Marco Andretti's head, one of the KV cars (Sato?) and Scott Dixon spun. Castroneves involved as well. Sato appeared to lose control under braking to nail Dixon, similar thing happened to Moraes. Let's hope everyone's okay...

Lap 2
Andretti calls his crew, says he's a-okay. To celebrate, we get our first GoDaddy commercial of the day!

Lap 3
Ryan Briscoe also appeared to lose bits of his nose as cars came around after the wreck...we're not seeing much about that. Marco Andretti finally able to get out of his car to a chorus of cat-calls from the Brazilians.

Lap 5
Alex Lloyd in the pits with an apparent engine issue. We're still yellow, trying to get Marco's car out of the way.

Lap 6
The pace car is moving impossibly slowly, and yet we've still taken five laps of caution without Andretti's car being cleared...The safety team is clearly out of practice.

Lap 7
Okay, this is getting a bit ridiculous. Now we're checking for bits of carbon fiber around the rest of the track. I would dearly like to see some racing here, guys.

Lap 8
FINALLY, we're given the one-to-go signal. I've nearly gone back into nap mode watching this.

Lap 9
And we are...GREEN! Most drivers staying single file...and we're still green! Franchitti leads, Tagliani follows, Hunter-Reay holding on behind those two. Interview with Marco, and Marco being himself finds a way to blame Moraes for the wreck...what a joke.

Lap 12
Justin Wilson apparently having some issues with all of the bumps and banging his tall frame around inside the cockpit.

Lap 14
Franchitti still leads, but Alex Tagliani's simply not going away.

Lap 15
Replays showing that Castroneves has a problem with his front wing. He was still able to get past Simona de Silvestro, though.

Lap 16
Tags must've made a mistake because he has lost contact with Franchitti and is being hounded by RHR...pass for second! We got Tony Kanaan's view of the proceedings on the in-car.

Lap 18
We've settled into parade mode a bit here. (flips TV to check Caps vs. Blackhawks...no score there)

Lap 19
Totally gonna watch Junior Seau be a tire changer with Scott Dixon...oughta be fun. Pass for second! RHR takes Tagliani and sets his sights on Dario.

Lap 20
Kanaan trying to take third from Tagliani. Replay shows a banner has come off the wall and into Justin Wilson's face.

Lap 22
In the most surprising development of the day, Milka Duno spins unassisted in turn 3...*facepalm*

Lap 24
Pit stops? Yes I do believe so...these guys really zing down the entrance to pit lane. Franchitti out first, RHR out second, Kanaan third, Tagliani fourth. Simona de Silvestro stayed out and will lead a few laps.

Lap 25
Hellish thunderstorm looming to the west of the track. We're told that Simona had pitted just before Milka brought out the yellow...therefore, she is on the lead lap and on the same pit cycle as everyone else. Simona, ftw!

Lap 26
The longer we stay yellow, the better chance we have of being caught out by the rain. Lights finally out on the pace car.

Lap 27
We are...GREEN! Simona got the jump on Dario as Dario skidded a bit out of the final corner. Clean start through the first couple corners. Hunter-Reay looks for second into turn 11 and has it.

Lap 28
Hunter-Reay takes the lead supercross-style into turn 5, and he is...RUNNING AWAAAYYY!

Lap 29
Crash crash crash! Tony Kanaan and...Tagliani perhaps? Haven't seen a shot of the other car yet. Ryan Briscoe, using his awesome ESP powers, ducked into the pits for wet tires. Looks like the wreck was caused by Wheldon shoving Tagliani into Kanaan...fallout to come. Still green.

Lap 30
Rain clearly beginning to fall...We're still green, but expect to see some cars in the pits here in a moment...

Lap 31
Pit stops for rain tires. De Silvestro clearly against the concept of pit lane as she stays out again, as does Hunter-Reay. Ana Beatriz goes ass-around before getting to pit lane.

Lap 32
It starts getting really insane on the course as many cars start going ass-around in turn 1. we FINALLY have a full-course yellow.

Lap something-or-other
The thunderstorm has knocked out some of the communications between race control and the rest of the world. No rundown at the top of the screen. Still under full-course yellow.

Lap whatever
The drivers are taking a break so the standing water can get cleaned up. Therefore, I'm taking a lunch break. BRB!

I have no idea what lap this is...
I'm back from cooking just as the drivers are back on the track. We're now in a timed race situation, so there's no more lap counter apparently. Right now, the drivers are movin' around behind the pace car.

37 mins to go
We are...GREEN! Dario jumps away Dixon follows, Conway behind them. Everyone clean through the first few corners.

Lap 40
Simona de Silvestro has an issue on the course...pity for her. The Ganassi cars have flown away. Cars on slick tires have been driving well so far.

Lap 42
Many many pit sstops for slick tires as the grip levels change on the course.

Lap 43
Near disaster as cars battle in the top 5...well played by everyone in the line there to keep from bashing each other to pieces. Craziness continues as the drivers try to lap Danica.

Lap 44
Danica clearly holding everone back in this crew...everyone finally through as they go down the long straight.

Lap 47
Mario Romancini clearly having an issue. Judging by the direction the wheels are pointing, I'm going to say there was some contact somewhere.

Lap 48
Looks like Romancini overcooked it coming out of turn 10. Classic understeer, hits the wall, breaks the left-rear. Still under green as Mario gets back to pit lane.

Lap 50
Much speculation on how the fuel game is going to play out over the last 20 minutes of this race. Hunter-Reay and Briscoe in lock-step...er, no Briscoe takes the lead in Turn 11. Oughta be interesting.

Lap 51
RHR goes for the lead back, but looks to have cut the second corner...iiiiiinteresting scenario coming here....

Lap 52
In the meantime, Will Power has caught up to this battle for the lead. Might be VEEERRRRY interesting.

Lap 53
Briscoe clearly trying to push the pace, locking up the breaks. Remember the fuel situation here...

Lap 54
Jack Arute busts out the computer and...Briscoe crashes!!! RHR takes the lead! Full-course yellow!

Lap 55
As I was saying, Arute breaks out the computer and shows us what looks like Satan's hemorrhoid on the radar screen. Interesting to see how the weather situation plays out now...Ten minutes on the clock as we get ready to shoot for the finish.

Lap 57
We are...GREEN!!! Shootout for the finish! RHR and Power get the jump on the rest of the field. Everyone clean through the opening complex. Meira gives the wall a slap coming onto the pit stretch, everyone keeps rolling. Vitor unaffected as he goes to third in the final turn!

Lap 58
RHR, Will Power, Vitor is the top three. Matos warned for blocking by Barnhart. Battle for the lead heating up! Power has it in turn 11!

Lap 59
Three minutes on the clock. Power in the lead, RHR in second, Vitor in third. Wheldon working Matos for fourth.

Lap 60
Under two minutes on the clock. No white flag in the air, so we have to assume two to go. Order remains unchanged so far, but the Target guys nearly got together. No shots of the leaders at the moment, but they are faaaaaar away from third place.

Lap 61
White flag! Power really gapping RHR here. Barring a disaster, he should take the win.

(Green) Checkered Flag!
Power wins it! Hunter-Reay, Vitor, Matos, Wheldon, Dixon, Franchitti, Conway, Castroneves, Kanaan round out your top 10. Great race for guys who got injured last year, as Power had the back injury at Sonoma and Meira had the scary back injury at Indianapolis.

The three podium drivers taking their ceremonial lap of awesomeness as they head for the podium at the Sambadrome.

Jack Arute attempting to conduct the interview through a kazoo...VERSUS shuts that off and says let's sort this noise out before we let you speak again.

In other news, I decided to check on how my Capitals are doing against Chicago....AND WE CAME BACK TO TIE IT AT THREE! That's AFTER the officials decided that they didn't want Ovechkin in the game after an admittedly rough hit...but not enough to warrant an ejection.

Back to Sao Paulo, and Jack Arute is in full interruption mode with our winner. "Yeah it's really great to have a full season and --" "WHAT ABOUT YOUR HANDS!? WHAT ABOUT MY SUPPLE BRONZED HANDS?!?!"

Hunter-Reay looks decidedly happy and sounds decidedly happy. The car was apparently slow on the straights compared to everyone else. Feeling the pressure of having IZOD ride the side of his car and it would've been nice to get them in victory lane. Comments that it's good to see A.J. celebrating on the podium with his team...couldn't agree more with that.

Vitor Meira: happy man. The last time I saw him in a car, I was looking at the underside of his car as it slid along the wall at Indianapolis. Says he tried his damndest not to cry because A.J. would give him crap for it! Bwahahahaa, I love it!

Okay, so let's recap: The beginning of the weekend was awful, with the ridiculously slippery start/finish straight. The middle was bad with a ridiculous wreck and a torrential rainstorm. The finish turned out pretty well, with Hunter-Reay forcing Briscoe into a key error to take the lead, then Power simply dominating the restart to ride off with victory. Meira also did a fantastic job on Rafa Matos in order to pick up a podium finish in his first race back from injury.

Checking my predictions, I'm looking pretty smart right now, eh? Will Power won, Ryan Hunter-Reay came second, and Alex Tagliani was in the hunt until being punted by Dan Wheldon. Danica was never a factor, especially once the rain came out.

Again, I interrupt regularly scheduled programming for this: THE CAPITALS BEAT THE BLACKHAWKS!!! Four unanswered goals, capped by Nick Backstrom's unassisted OT score to be the first team this year to triple digit points! Here's to my boys on the ice!

As for IndyCars, they'll be in beautiful St. Petersburg, Florida, in two weeks' time. See ya later, race fans!